Dry and wet ore-separator.



.l. STANLEY. DRY AND WET ORE SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR- 6. 1914.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

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J. STANLEY.

DRY AND WET ORE SEPABATOR. APPLICATION FILED APR. 6, 1914.

1,149,302. Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

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COLUMNA ILANWJ'ZA'M 1211.. WASHINGTON. n. Cv

Josnrii STANLEY, or enARY, OKLAHOMA.

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Specification of Letters Patent Patented Aug. io; i915.

Application filed. April 6, 1914 Serial No. 829,961;

To all whom itmag concern."

Be it known that I, JOSEPH STANLEY, citizen ofthe' United States, residing at Geary,

in the county of Canadian and. State ofv Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful- Improvements inDry and" WetOre- Separators, of which the following is a specification.- I I My invention relates'to ore separators of that type in which the ore after being Particularly my invention relates to certain improvements in the ore separator described and illustrated in the patent granted to me June 20,1911, No. 995,578.

In the patent above referred to, the ore after having been crushed and screened, is deposited upon a rotatable conical container and is subjected to centrifugal action. This container as illustrated has a pan in the upper portion of itupon which the gold is deposited, this pan having screens. The separation of the fine gold is made while the sand or crushed ore and other material is passing over these screens, the centrifugal action tending to force the lighter particles not gold toward the circumference of the pan. In the construction covered by my prior patent there was no means to retard the flow of crushedmaterial tothe circumference of the pan. Inasmuch as the pe riphery of the pan is running at a higher speed than the central portion of the pan,

the movement of the pan has a tendency to slough material too rapidly toward and over the edge of the pan, andthis causes the machine to lose a part of the gold.

Theprimary object of my invention therefore is'to provide means for preventing this too rapid movement of the ore from the central portion of the pan tothe periphery thereof, and so retard the flow of separated gold or other material thatthe stirrer rods will more fully-act upon the material on the pan and give the stirrer rodsa chance to work the gold back to the center-thus. keeping the gold in the bottom of the pan after it is separated.

.A further object of the invention is to provide in a separator of the character shown in my prior patent, means whereby the separator may be used" either as a concentrator for dry ore or as a concentrator forgrouii'd orcrushed ore mixed with water thus permitting the separator to be used to concentrate ore from placer sands.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is'a vertical section view of one form of ore separator constructed in accordance .witlrmy invention. Fig. 2 is an enlargedsectional view of the pan shown in Fig; 1. Fig-3 is a vertical sectional view showing another form of ore separator adapted more'particularl'y for wet processes. Fig. 4: is a bottom plan view of the stirrers and means for supporting the same.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and-indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawings by the same reference characters.

Referring to these figures, and particularly to Fig. 1, 2 designates the frame of the machine. which is practically the same as that heretofore described.

3 designates adownwardly extending delivery chute, down which the crushed ore passes after it has been subjected to a preliminary screening. Disposed below the mouth of this chute is a rotatable container designated 4 which has the form of an inverted cone. mounted upon a shaft 5, to which rotary motion is communicated by means of the bevel gears 6 and 7 the bevel gear 7 being mounted upon a driving haft 8. Disposed within the bottom of the container at is the conical false bottom 9 through which passes the upper end of theshaft 5. Discharge openings 10 are formed in the side wallof the container in alinement with the false bottom 9, these openings being controlled by gates 11.

As illustrated in my prior patent and as shown in'Fig. 1, an air pipe 12 extends down through the center of the container 4, this air pipe being connected to a wind chest 13 This container is rotatably illustrated fully in my prior patent. The

lower end of the air pipe 12 is supported by means of legs.

Disposed in the upper portion of the container 4 and removably mounted therein is the pan 15. This pan is circular in form and consists in Fig. 1 of a central portion screen 16 having a steeply inclined edge 17 the angle of which is preferably 15 to the plane of the screen 16. This sharply inclined portion may have any desired width but I havefound that a width of one-half inch affords good results. From this sharply inclined'face 17 the upper face of the solid portion extendsoutward for a distance say two inches with a very slight inclination, this face being designated 18. From this the upper face of the solid portion extends upward and outward at a steeper inclination for say another two inches as at 19 and then is sharply inclined at the rim, the face of this rim portion having an angle of a5 to a horizontal plane. Thus the level bottom of the pan is approximately half an inch lower than the outside of the pan, and these inclined surfaces stop or retard the flow of separated gold or other material.

Disposed above the pan are a plurality of radially directed supporting members 20 from which depend a plurality of stirrer rods 21 which depend from the supporting members 20 and extend nearly to the bottom of the pan 15. These rods may be of any suitable form and act to agitate the material in the pan as the separator is ro tated so as to prevent the particles of ore from adhering to each other and so as to permit the air blast from the pipe 12 to eject the finer and lighter particles of matter.

Extending across and mounted upon the frame 2 is a discharge chute 22, this chute being of course wider than the diameter of the separator and being provided with an opening through which the container l passes, the opening being protected by upwardly extending inclined walls 23 thus preventing any material which is forced over the edge of the separator and into the chute from getting into the space between the bottom of the trough or chute and the wall of the separator. Thischute is practically the same as that illustrated in my prior patent.

The operation of this form of separator will be obvious from what has gone before. The ore in a finely divided condition is screened, as previously described, and the finer particles of the ore containing precious metal to be separated are eventually dis- While the material is passing over the pan,

the wind blast coming up through the perforated bottom of the pan blows the light dust out and the gold dust will settle down on the gauze screen, the very fine gold sifting through the screen. The coarse gold will settleon. top of the screen. Gradually the light material will work its way outward and eventually pass over the edge of the pan and fall into the chute 22. After a run of five or ten hours the pan may be taken out and the gold removed from the top, and the gold is also taken out from the container. Allthe gold is then put in a gold pan and washed out.

. It is, in order to impede the outward flow of the material on the pan that I'provide the sloping bottom. This will tend to hold the heavy material such as gold at the cen ter of the panbut will give the light material a chance to be' carried out and over the the air'pipe or tube 12 is not used and the shaft 5* is carried up through the container 4 to a point above-the discharge end of the chute, the upper end of the shaft being illustrated as. mounted in a suitable bearing 24. The pan -25 is-annular in form but unlike the pan 15 it is-imperforate throughout its entire extent. The central portion 28 is flat.

The upper surface of the pan then rises abruptly at an angle of 15 as at 29, then extends at a gradual upward inclination as at 30 for a certain distance as for instance two inches, then extends upward and outward at a slightly greater inclination as at 81 and at the extreme rim portion is formed with an abrupt inclination 32-to the edge of the pan. These inclined faces 30, 31 and 32 act in exactly the same manner as. the. inclined faces 17, 18 and 19, heretofore described.

In Fig. 4: I showthe manner in which the stirrers 21 are mounted. It will be seen that two of the arms 20 extend entirely across the machine and are connected to the posts 2 while the other arms 20 are connected to the annulus 24c. This annulus is large enough to surround the wind-pipe 12 in the construction used in Fig. 1. The annulus also forms the means whereby a supporting sleeve 33 may be connected by means of the straps 34L.

WVhile I have illustrated the pans as being formed in sections I wish it understood that the pans might be formed in any suitable manner, and may be either cast or formed of sheet metal.

The operation of this form of the, pan is as follows :The water and crushed ore are carried down from a hopper not shown and discharged on the separator pan adjacent the center thereof and there the water and particles of ore are thoroughly mixed by the stirrer rods. The rotation of the pan and the action of the stirrer rods tend to work the material toward the outside. The gold being relatively heavy will work to the bottom of the pan while the other material is carried to the outside, falls over the edge of the pan and is carried olf by the chute 22. Quicksilver may be used in this pan to catch the gold if working ground or crushed ore where the gold is very fine. In the water pan all gold is caught in the pan itself. The pan may be readily removed from the top of the container 4: and after a run the pan is cleaned off and the gold washed, off.

It will be noted that by the use of two pans the one construction may be used for either the Wet process or the dry process and that it is only necessary to disconnect the air tube and substitute the pans in order to make the change desired. The stirrers eX- tend down into the pans close to the bottom thereof so that as the pan rotates the material within the pan will be kept thoroughly stirred up. This prevents the material from packing and in the form of my invention shown in Fig.1 permits the wind to pass through the material and blow off the light dust and further, this constant stirring allows all the gold to sink to the bottom of the pan.

1 have found in operation that this im trated in my prior'patent.

It is further observed that the pan as a whole comprises a plurality of sections, a fiat bottom section, 15 or 25, and upper sections placed thereon and having their upper surfaces forming the retarding inclines 18,

19, 30 and 31. The upper sections formed with the retarding inclines upon their upper.

per section has an upstanding beveled rim at v its outer edge.

WVhat I claim is:

1. A rotary separator comprising a pan formed of a plurality of sections, a flat bottom section and upper sections, each of the upper sections having its upper surface transversely inclined, the inclination of the surfaces of the upper sections increasing from the center outward, and the inner edge of the innermost section being abruptly inclined to the plane of the bottom section and theoutermost section having an upstanding beveled rim at its outer edge.

2. A rotary separator comprising a shallow pan having a flat horizontal foraminated central portion, a narrow upwardly and outwardly steeply inclined portion at the outer edge of the flat central portion, and a wide upwardly and outwardly slightly inclined portion beyond the steeply inclined portion.

8. A rotary separator comprising a shallow pan having a flat horizontal foraminated central portion, a narrow upwardly and outwardly steeply inclined portion at the outer edge of the flat central portion, a wide upwardly and outwardly slightly inclined portion beyond the steeply inclined portion and a second wide upwardly and outwardly steeply inclined portion surrounding the wide upwardly and outwardly slightly inclined portion and terminating in an upwardly and outwardly steeply inclined rim.

4. A rotary separator comprising a shallow pan having a flat horizontal foraminated central portion, a centrally disposed conical portion, a narrow upwardly and outwardly steeply inclined portion, a wide upwardly and outwardly slightly inclined portion beyond the upwardly and outwardly steeply inclined portion and a second wide portion inclining upwardly and outwardly at a steep inclination and terminating at its outer edge in an upwardly and outwardly steeply inclined rim.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH STANLEY. [L.S.]

Witnesses EDWIN T. THoMA, T. J. STEPHENSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the G'ommissioner of'Patents. Washington, D. G. 

